Writing About the Silence: Identifying the Language of Ostracism

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 751-763
Author(s):  
Fabian Klauke ◽  
Lena C. Müller-Frommeyer ◽  
Simone Kauffeld
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
First Person ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Person Plural ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry ◽  
First Person Plural ◽  
N 93

Autobiographical reports of episodes of ostracism and social inclusion were analyzed in two separate samples (German N = 93; English N = 243) using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software. Recalling ostracism was associated with the use of more first-person singular pronouns, fewer first-person plural pronouns, and more complex language. These findings could reflect ostracism inducing a self-focus and putting high cognitive load on its targets. This study provides a first step to establish linguistic analysis as a tool for the research of social exclusion.

A Linguistic Analysis of Suicide-Related Twitter Posts

Crisis ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 319-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bridianne O'Dea ◽  
Mark E. Larsen ◽  
Philip J. Batterham ◽  
Alison L. Calear ◽  
Helen Christensen
Keyword(s):  
Suicide Risk ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Risk Assessments ◽  
First Person ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Online Risk ◽  
Twitter Data ◽  
Social Media Site ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry

Abstract. Background: Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide. Identifying those at risk and delivering timely interventions is challenging. Social media site Twitter is used to express suicidality. Automated linguistic analysis of suicide-related posts may help to differentiate those who require support or intervention from those who do not. Aims: This study aims to characterize the linguistic profiles of suicide-related Twitter posts. Method: Using a dataset of suicide-related Twitter posts previously coded for suicide risk by experts, Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) and regression analyses were conducted to determine differences in linguistic profiles. Results: When compared with matched non-suicide-related Twitter posts, strongly concerning suicide-related posts were characterized by a higher word count, increased use of first-person pronouns, and more references to death. When compared with safe-to-ignore suicide-related posts, strongly concerning suicide-related posts were characterized by increased use of first-person pronouns, greater anger, and increased focus on the present. Other differences were found. Limitations: The predictive validity of the identified features needs further testing before these results can be used for interventional purposes. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that strongly concerning suicide-related Twitter posts have unique linguistic profiles. The examination of Twitter data for the presence of such features may help to validate online risk assessments and determine those in need of further support or intervention.

A deixis emocional em português europeu contemporâneo: alguns contributos

2019 ◽  
pp. 225-235
Author(s):  
Ana Cristina Macário Lopes
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Data ◽  
First Person ◽  
Person Plural ◽  
First Person Plural

This paper is a contribution to the description of the structures that express emotional deixis, in European contemporary Portuguese. The analysis of our empirical data show that, in Portuguese, demonstratives are not the only category that encodes emotional deictic meaning; possessives and first person plural display the same function, in some contexts. It is also discussed the semantic bleaching of the deictic space adverbs cá and lá and it is argued that it can only be described and explained in illocutionary terms, and not in the framework of emotional deixis.

Colloquial features in Word Englishes

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 479-505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Collins ◽  
Xinyue Yao
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
American English ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
Evolutionary Status ◽  
First Person ◽  
Functional Interpretation ◽  
Person Plural ◽  
World English ◽  
First Person Plural ◽  
Grammatical Change

A powerful discourse-pragmatic agent of grammatical change in English since the mid-twentieth century has been the increasing acceptance of colloquialism. Little is known, however, about its influence on grammatical developments in regional varieties of World English other than the two inner circle ‘supervarieties’, British and American English. This paper reports findings from a corpus-based study of three grammatical categories known to be undergoing a colloquialism-related rise in contemporary English, across a range of registers in ten World Englishes: quasi-modals (have to, have got to, be going to, want to), get-passives, and first person plural inclusive let’s. In each case comparisons are drawn with non-colloquial variants: modals (must, should, will, shall), be-passives, and let us. Subsequent functional interpretation of the data is used to explore the effect upon the quantitative patterns identified of the phenomenon of colloquialism and of further factors with which it interacts (including Americanism, prescriptivism, and evolutionary status).

Are we visible? An interdisciplinary data-based study of self-mention in research articles

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohsen Khedri
Keyword(s):  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Environmental Engineering ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
First Person ◽  
Person Plural ◽  
Rhetorical Strategy ◽  
Original Contribution ◽  
Subjective Strategies ◽  
First Person Plural

AbstractResearch articles have often materialized through the use of impersonal objective strategies viz. abstract rhetors, passive constructions, and nominalizations. However, intrusive or subjective strategies, such as self-mentions, appear to integrate impersonal structures. As a rhetorical strategy to explicitly portray authorial selves, self-mentions help writers to project themselves into the discourse by marketing themselves and demarcating their original contribution to the field. Here, an interdisciplinary approach was adopted to examine explicit authorial presence in a comparable corpus of 40 research articles in applied linguistics, psychology, environmental engineering, and chemistry by taking into consideration: (i) the frequency of using exclusive first person plural pronouns (

Inclusive and exclusive uses of we in four American textbooks for multicultural teacher education

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 625-647
Author(s):  
Baburhan Uzum ◽  
Bedrettin Yazan ◽  
Ali Fuad Selvi
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Multicultural Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Positioning Theory ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
First Person ◽  
Person Plural ◽  
Multicultural Teacher Education ◽  
First Person Plural ◽  
Multicultural Teacher

This study analyses four American multicultural teacher education textbooks for instances of inclusive and exclusive representations through the use of first person plural pronouns (i.e. we, us, our, ours). Positioning theory is used as a theoretical framework to examine the textbook authors’ uses of first person plural pronouns and to understand how these pronouns perform reflexive and interactive positioning and fluidly (re)negotiate and (re)delineate the borders between ‘self’ and ‘other.’ The findings suggest that first person plural pronouns are used extensively in the focal textbooks to refer to such groups as authors, Americans, humans, teachers, and teacher educators. Expressing differing levels of ambiguity in interpretation, these pronouns play significant roles in the discursive representations of inclusivity and exclusivity across topics of multicultural education. This study implicates that language teachers should use criticality and reflexivity when approaching exclusionary discourses and representations that neglect the particularities of individuals from different cultures.

Did Paul Really Think He Wasn’t Going to Die?

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-59
Author(s):  
J. Andrew Doole
Keyword(s):  
First Person ◽  
Person Plural ◽  
First Person Plural

AbstractIt is often claimed that Paul expected the Lord to return in glory within his lifetime, based in part on the text of 1 Thess 4:13–18. Those who have a theological interest in denying Paul’s mistaken optimism have to bend over backwards to explain why this wasn’t the case. The use of the First Person Plural in this passage however may be indicative that Paul was not actually making this claim for himself at all. Both the content and the context suggest rather that Paul, Silvanus and Timothy were providing the Thessalonian Christians with a “soundbite” for mutual and reciprocal encouragement when they met as a community. Indeed, Paul may have used First Person Plural soundbites throughout his ministry.

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